Lionheart's POV
Sitting at his desk in shame, Leonardo Lionheart looks up when he hears Dr. Watts walk in the door. There's a small silence between them and Watts has an evil grin on his face. They go to the left side of the room, where Lionheart opens a secret door. They go down the hallway and come to a small alcove, where a small, orb-like Grimm is being held.
Watts: "After you." he pushes Lionheart forward.
Lionheart: "Your Grace, are... are you there?"
A red mist fills the Grimm as Salem and Cinder's faces become visible on the formerly black orb.
Salem: "Hello Leonardo. Do you have something to report?"
Lionheart: "Of course, ma'am. I would not waste your time if not."
Watts: "I'm still just so fascinated by this creature." he says coming up to it. "Cinder dear, are-are we coming through? Can you see us clearly? Well, as clearly as you can."
Cinder: "Shut... up."
Watts: "Oh, goody. You've recovered." he says sarcastically.
Salem: "Your report. What is it?" she says patiently.
Lionheart: "I-I've found the Spring Maiden."
Salem: "Is that so? Well done." she says with a smile. "Arthur, had I known how useful you'd be in expediting this process, I would have sent you long, long ago."
Watts: "As much as I'd love to take the credit, ma'am, I can't say either of us are to thank for this development. I guess you could say a little birdie told us."
Salem: "Explain." she says calmly.
Lionheart: "You see, ma'am, Qrow Branwen arrived at Haven Academy earlier today. He believes Spring has taken residence with his sister's tribe."
Cinder: "Is... the boy... with him?"
Watts: "No, Mr. Rose was not here. It's likely he's still with Raven Branwen, which could spell trouble for us."
Salem: "Do you know of the tribe's location?"
Lionheart: "Yes ma'am, but you have to hurry! Qrow is already with odds at my-"
One of the tentacles of the Grimm shoots out and wraps around Lionheart's throat, choking him hard. As he's gasping for air, Salem speaks with an angry, but still calm, look.
Salem: "Leonardo. Do you remember the first time we met?" She pulls him to his knees. "I remember. I remember your fear. But, since that day, you've been extraordinarily brave. I won't forget all that you've done for me. Do not forget everything I can do to you." The Grimm points another spiked tentacle at his face.
It lets him go, leaving him to recover from the choking.
Salem: "Cinder. You and your team will meet with Doctor Watts and together, convince Raven Branwen that the survival of her people depends on her cooperation. Once you have Spring under control, escort her to the Relic and contact Hazel. The White Fang was promised the destruction of Haven, and they'll have it once we get what we need."
Watts: "What if the boy is there?"
Salem: "Loke's team has informed me that Y/N Rose is traveling in Anima. So you have nothing to fear there. "
Watts: "Understood."
Salem: "Not you Arthur. Tyrian's in need of a new tail."
Watts: "What happened to his old one?" he says slightly annoyed.
Salem: "Guess."
Watts: "The silver-eyed girl?" He bows. "It will be done."
Salem: "Good."
The red mist fades and the orb reverts to black again. Lionheart's still holding his throat while Watts is just standing there.
Watts: "Seems Qrow was right, Lionheart. The students aren't pushovers. "
Weiss's POV
As the young former heiress travels through a field of islands floating through the sky, she decides to ask the pilot what's happening. She goes to the deck above in confusion.
Weiss: "Where are we?"
Pilot: "Nowhere good. Passing by some of Lake Matsu's floating islands. The gravity Dust that forms in these things is giving us a bit of turbulence. Nothing I can't handle, but the islands sometimes hide some nasty Grimm. I'm just betting on our friends in distress keeping them preoccupied."
Weiss hears something to the left and looks over to get a look.
Weiss: "Look out! she warns.
Another airship, this one on fire, comes crashing through the sky towards them. The pilot does some evasive maneuvers and while they dodge it barely, the crashing airship slams into one of the islands, exploding.
Pilot: "You've got to be kidding me!" he says angrily and messes with the radio.
Mistral Pilot: "By the gods, we've lost Percy! Help!"
They look to the side and see another airship being chased by a swarm of giant wasp Grimm, known as Lancers. The Lancers shoot out their hooks into the other airship, each causing more damage.
Mistral Pilot: "We're hooked! We're hooked!" she says as Weiss watches in horror. "Everyone abandon ship!"
The Lancers start to literally pull the ship apart. Another kamikazes by diving down and going through the hull, making it explode on impact. When that ship's finished, they turn their attention to Weiss's.
Pilot: "Lancers. Freakin' Lancers!" He makes some preparations. "Alright, buckle up- Huh?"
Weiss goes to the deck below, where all of the Dust he's smuggling is being stored.
Pilot (over intercom): "What are you doing?"
Weiss: "What we should've done in the first place!" she says as she grabs her rapier. "You're carrying Dust, right?"
Pilot: "Officially, no. Actually... yes."
She opens one of the cases and starts loading vials into her weapon.
Weiss: "Then when I tell you, open the rear door!"
She stumbles a bit after some turbulence causes the ship to rock.
Pilot: "Better make it quick!"
He continues to fly through the air, trying to avoid the Lancers as best as he can. They're trying to hook him, but the hooks keep bouncing off.
Pilot: "Kid, we're cutting it close!"
She activates a gravity Glyph to keep herself steady and brings her rapier to her face.
Weiss: "Ready!"
The rear door open, leaving Weiss to help deal with the pursuing Grimm. She uses wind Dust to knock them back a bit and then fire Dust through a Glyph, allowing her to shoot at them, hitting a few.
Pilot: "Hold on!"
He performs more evasive maneuvers in an attempt to lead them into their own destruction. Weiss summons more Glyphs and channels ice Dust through them, hitting even more. The airship shakes and her concentration breaks for a moment.
Weiss: "What was that!?"
Pilot: "We're hooked!"
Two Lancers have hooked their way onto the ship and are on top. He flies even faster, as he's got an idea. He starts flying into one of the islands, diving at the last second in order to fling the hooked Lancers off, which works.
Pilot: "Ha-ha!"
Weiss: "Can you find a pair of islands we can fit between?"
Pilot: "Kid, you are reading my mind!"
With significantly less Lancers following them, the pilot does as she asks and goes between a pair of loosely connected islands, into a narrow passage between them. As he flies, Weiss shoots fireballs up above and in front of them, causing landslides of rocks to hit the Lancers. The rocks take care of the remaining Lancers, but something else is awakened.
Pilot: "Ha-ha! Great going kid! We are in the clear!"
She sighs in relief, but looks up when she hears more buzzing. In front of her...
Weiss: "It's a Queen Lancer!"
Pilot: "What!?"
She shoots beams of ice at the Queen, but it seemingly has no effect. It opens up spikes on its body and shoots them at her, forcing her to block it with her Aura. Some of the spikes go into the ship and its wings, causing damage.
Pilot: "Do something!"
Having a Y/N type idea (meaning crazy), Weiss leaps back behind the crates and cuts the ties holding them down. She lifts them with her Glyphs and sends them all towards the Queen, making the crates explode on impact. When the dust clears, it's obvious the Queen is still alive, but injured.
Pilot: "I can see the shoreline! Gods, we're not gonna make it!"
Weiss's eyes widen as she knows what she needs to do. Weiss uses all of her concentration and stabs her sword into the ground, using her White Knight summon.
Weiss: "Pull up, now!"
The White Knight leaps out of the airship, summoning its sword and disappears, reappearing below the Queen Lancer on a Glyph. It jumps up, slicing through the Queen and jumping between Glyphs in the air, slicing it with each jump. The Queen fires one last hook at it, and while it deflects it with its sword, the hook hits the airship, making it crash towards the ground. With one last decisive strike, the White Knight destroys the Queen Lancer and they both fade into smoke.
With the ship crashing, Weiss creates a few gravity Glyphs to slow down the ship. She succeeds, but the ship still crashes into the Mistral shoreline.
Adam's POV
Sienna Khan: "Adam. I'm not going to repeat myself, so I want you to listen when I tell you that the White Fang will not attack Haven Academy."
Adam: "High Leader Khan, I am begging you."
Sienna Khan: "You should bed for forgiveness and nothing else!" she shouts angrily. "The assault you led on Beacon was not the great victory you clearly think it was and you should be grateful your punishment wasn't more severe. You are a symbol for many in our organization, but that doesn't make you infallible. That was clearly shown when you had your ass handed to you during the battle."
Adam: "I was merely trying to follow your example, High Leader." he says with slight anger in his voice.
Sienna Khan: "And what example might that be?"
Adam: "Strength. Strength and unwavering conviction. The humans have seen that strength now."
Sienna Khan: "*sigh* I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back. But the destruction of the Huntsman Academies crosses a line!" she scolds. "The loss of the CCT has brought global communication to a crawl! And the White Fang is more of a target now than ever before!
Adam just kneels before her as she scolds him.
Sienna Khan: "You have justified humanity's campaign against us, and for what? Empty promises from a group of humans? Humans we still know nothing about, and come and go as they please! These are not examples of strength, Adam. They are examples of your talents being diminished by shortsightedness!"
Adam: "If you want to know more about the humans, then why not talk to one of them yourself?" He stands and turns toward the door. "Hazel!"
The door to the throne room creaks open and the large man known as Hazel walks in.
Hazel: "Took you long enough."
Sienna Khan: "What is this!?" The guards ready their weapons.
Hazel: "Apologies. I don't aim to cause any trouble."
Sienna Khan: "You've brought a human to this location!?" she says furious.
Adam: "You should hear what he has to say."
Sienna Khan: "This is grounds for execution!"
Hazel: "Ma'am, please." He says calmly. "Nobody needs to die today. I'm just asking for a moment of your time." he says while kneeling.
Sienna Khan: "The longer you stay here, the less of a chance you have of leaving alive."
Hazel: "I'll take those chances, if you don't mind."
She sits back on her throne and the guards lift their weapons away from him. He gets up and begins to speak.
Hazel: "You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want."
Sienna Khan: "I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it IS that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win!"
Adam: "That's where you're wrong." He starts walking toward her. "We CAN win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, humans should serve the Faunus."
Adam's standing directly in front of Sienna in her throne.
Sienna Khan: "I've had enough of this conversation for tonight. Guards, take them away."
The guards don't move.
Sienna Khan: "I said, take them away!"
They still don't move.
Adam: "I will admit, Sienna, you were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same."
Sienna stares at him with anger in her eyes as the throne room door opens and more guards come in, these on Adam's side.
Hazel: "What are you doing?" he asks.
Adam: "What's right for the Faunus." He turns back to her. "From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang."
The guards surround, pointing their weapons at her.
Sienna Khan: "If you think I'll just step aside and follow beneath you, you're wrong-"
Adam stabs Sienna through the stomach with his sword.
Adam: "I know. Thank you Sienna. You were there when our people needed you, but they need me, now. I'm sorry you couldn't see this through to the end." he says while she's gasping in pain, followed by growling. "Now, what was that about getting my ass handed to me?" he whispers in her ear.
He pulls the sword out and she tumbles down the steps leading up to the throne as Hazel looks at him in annoyance.
Adam: "Give our former leader a 'proper' burial. All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human Huntsman! Sienna Khan will become a martyr for our cause, her final act as High Leader."
The guards in the room put her on a stretcher to take her out. Hazel looks at her and then to Adam.
Hazel: "When were you planning on telling me about that?"
Adam: "This was my business." he says as he cleans his sword. "Not yours."
Hazel: "It's our business now, and I don't appreciate you withholding things like that."
Adam: "Your master was concerned with Sienna's willingness to cooperate. Now she doesn't ave to be." he says with a smile on his face.
Hazel: "Nobody needed to die today." he says as he walks away.
Adam: "I... disagree."
He sits on the throne, still warm from when his former boss sat on it.
Weiss's POV
After the crash, Weiss is barely conscious. She hears footsteps and lifts herself up.
Weiss: "Help... please."
She looks up and sees two armed bandits.
Bandit 1: "What do you think?"
A black-haired woman with red eyes comes between them.
Black-Haired Woman: "I think... we just hit the jackpot."
The woman kicks Weiss, knocking her out.
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No appearance from Y/N in this chapter! Come on, it's not like he's the main character or anything, right?
Anyway, it feels so good to be writing this again. I tell ya, finals week kicked my ass! But that's all done, hopefully I passed all of my classes, but I don't have to worry about that now! I am never taking 18 credit hours again. That shit nearly killed me.
But as always, tell me what you'd like to see. Is Sienna truly dead? Maybe. Maybe not. It's not like Adam or anyone checked her pulse. As always, vote, comment, and follow!